U.S.S. Neosho River Monitor

The U.S.S. Neosho River Monitor Gunboat at Nashville

Lieutenant Samuel Howard – Ships Captain

December 6, 1864 aboard the U.S.S. Neosho, Quartermaster John Ditzenback, and Pilot John H. Ferrell received the Medal of Honor for retrieving the United States flag which had been shot away. Under heavy enemy fire, they left the safety of the armored pilot-house, and tied it to the main signal staff. This drawing was featured in Harpers Weekly.

The river monitor U.S.S. Neosho was hit more than one hundred times in one of the, many engagements at this site, severely damaging her stern house and chimney. It narrowly escaped destruction when an unexploded shell lodged in her powder magazine. 78 years latter, her namesake would not be so lucky. She was sunk by the Japanese in the Battle of Coral Sea, May 11, 1942.